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About first ladies elizajohnson
ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE * FIRST LADIES OUR FIRST LADIES: 18th Century about_first_ladies_marthawashington Martha Washington about_first_ladies_abigailadams Abigail Adams 19th Century about_first_ladies_marthajefferson Martha Jefferson about_first_ladies_dolleymadison Dolley Madison about_first_ladies_elizabethmonroe Elizabeth Monroe about_first_ladies_louisaadams Louisa Adams about_first_ladies_racheljackson Rachel Jackson about_first_ladies_hannahvanburen Hannah Van Buren about_first_ladies_annaharrison Anna Harrison about_first_ladies_letitiatyler Letitia Tyler about_first_ladies_juliatyler Julia Tyler about_first_ladies_sarahpolk Sarah Polk about_first_ladies_margarettaylor Margaret Taylor about_first_ladies_abigailfillmore Abigail Fillmore about_first_ladies_janepierce Jane Pierce about_first_ladies_harrietlane Harriet Lane about_first_ladies_marylincoln Mary Lincoln about_first_ladies_elizajohnson Eliza Johnson about_first_ladies_juliagrant Julia Grant about_first_ladies_lucyhayes Lucy Hayes about_first_ladies_lucretiagarfield Lucretia Garfield about_first_ladies_ellenarthur Ellen Arthur about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_carolineharrison Caroline Harrison about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_idamckinley Ida McKinley 20th Century about_first_ladies_edithroosevelt Edith Roosevelt about_first_ladies_helentaft Helen Taft about_first_ladies_ellenwilson Ellen Wilson about_first_ladies_edithwilson Edith Wilson about_first_ladies_florenceharding Florence Harding about_first_ladies_gracecoolidge Grace Coolidge about_first_ladies_louhoover Lou Hoover about_first_ladies_eleanorroosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt about_first_ladies_besstruman Elizabeth Truman about_first_ladies_mamieeisenhower Mamie Eisenhower about_first_ladies_jacquelinekennedy Jacqueline Kennedy about_first_ladies_ladybirdjohnson Claudia Johnson about_first_ladies_patnixon Patricia Nixon about_first_ladies_bettyford Elizabeth Ford about_first_ladies_rosalynncarter Rosalynn Carter about_first_ladies_nancyreagan Nancy Reagan about_first_ladies_barbarabush Barbara Bush about_first_ladies_hillaryclinton Hillary Clinton 21st Century about_first_ladies_laurabush Laura Bush administration_michelle_obama Michelle Obama ELIZA MCCARDLE JOHNSON b.1810 -- d.1876 "I knew he'd be acquitted; I knew it," declared Eliza McCardle Johnson, told how the Senate had voted in her husband's impeachment trial. Her faith in him had never wavered during those difficult days in 1868, when her courage dictated that all White House social events should continue as usual. That faith began to develop many years before in east Tennessee, when Andrew Johnson first came to Greeneville, across the mountains from North Carolina, and established a tailor shop. Eliza was almost 16 then and Andrew only 17; and local tradition tells of the day she first saw him. He was driving a blind pony hitched to a small cart, and she said to a girl friend, "There goes my beau!" She married him within a year, on May 17, 1827. Eliza was the daughter of Sarah Phillips and John McCardle, a shoemaker. Fortunately she had received a good basic education that she was delighted to share with her new husband. He already knew his letters and could read a bit, so she taught him writing and arithmetic. With their limited means, her skill at keeping a house and bringing up a family--five children, in all--had much to do with Johnson's success. He rose rapidly, serving in the state and national legislatures and as governor. Like him, when the Civil War came, people of east Tennessee remained loyal to the Union; Lincoln sent him to Nashville as military governor in 1862. Rebel forces caught Eliza at home with part of the family. Only after months of uncertainty did they rejoin Andrew Johnson in Nashville. By 1865 a soldier son and son-in-law had died, and Eliza was an invalid for life. Quite aside from the tragedy of Lincoln's death, she found little pleasure in her husband's position as President. At the White House, she settled into a second-floor room that became the center of activities for a large family: her two sons, her widowed daughter Mary Stover and her children; her older daughter Martha with her husband, Senator David T. Patterson, and their children. As a schoolgirl Martha had often been the Polks' guest at the mansion; now she took up its social duties. She was a competent, unpretentious, and gracious hostess even during the impeachment crisis. At the end of Johnson's term, Eliza returned with relief to her home in Tennessee, restored from wartime vandalism. She lived to see the legislature of her state vindicate her husband's career by electing him to the Senate in 1875, and survived him by nearly six months, dying at the Pattersons' home in 1876. ---- Click about_presidents_andrewjohnson here to read the biography President Andrew Johnson. MD5: 26686ccfd4f3da362a9158bb34541105 Original URL: http://whitehouse.gov/about/first_ladies/elizajohnson/